Is this a sign I'm more fit, or am I deluding myself?

mom2kateRH

Last week and this week, I have not lost weight.

I have been losing steadily for the past 2 months. The only thing I can think of is that my fitness level has increased to the point I'm burning fewer calories with the same exercises. I've always just logged my calories burned based on what MFP estimates for me, and it's worked up until this week.

But I think I'm much more fit now, and MFP overestimates my calorie burn.

I'm going to stop eating back all my exercise calories, but I'm taking this as a positive sign. Or am I just deluding myself??

shadow2soul

Have you adjusted your calorie goal in those 2 months? You do need to adjust it as you lose weight to keep your deficit the same.

You won't lose weight every week.

It's only been 2 weeks. Patience. I had times were I saw no loss for 3 weeks and then lost a lot the following week.

deputy_randolph

If you lost weight, you need less calories to support your current weight than your starting weight.

The fitbit could be overestimating your calories burned...many ppl ask this question on the forums. Are you strength training? Fitbit seems to be less accurate for this type of workout. Strength training burns less calories than cardio while engaged in the activity (but is an important component of well balanced workout plan to retain muscle while dieting).

Do you feel more fit? How do your clothes fit?Good questions to ask yourself to judge progress.

rybo

It's much, much more likely that when it comes to weight loss, it's not linear. Not losing anything one week says nothing at all.

mom2kateRH

I don't have a Fitbit, just been using what MFP gives me as an estimated calorie burn. I do think the default calorie burns in their database are way high, especially for running.

My base daily allowance has gone down. I get 1480 calories/day to start, plus exercise calories. But I do think my exercise calories are being overestimated by MFP, so I'm going to not eat all of them back.

I do feel more fit. I can run 3 miles now!

Patience is not one of my many virtues

sijomial

As you become fitter your capabilities increase - you should be able to burn more calories, not less.
Run further/faster/longer, lift more weight etc etc.

Less than two weeks is a very short timeframe to jump to any conclusions let alone what would be a very minor and gradual change.

PS - you haven't given any clues what your exercise actually is. Or what your rate of loss was...

ladyhusker39

I say take all the positive motivation you can get whether it's technically accurate or not.

Any long project like losing a lot of weight has it's physical and emotional ups and downs. It sounds like you've got a pretty solid attitude about it.

You could certainly cut back a little on your calories and see what effect it has. Personally, I'd up my exercise a bit to burn more because I'd rather keep eating more, Either way should produce some kind of change that might help you figure out what's going on.

mom2kateRH

sijomial wrote: »

As you become fitter your capabilities increase - you should be able to burn more calories, not less.
Run further/faster/longer, lift more weight etc etc.

Less than two weeks is a very short timeframe to jump to any conclusions let alone what would be a very minor and gradual change.

PS - you haven't given any clues what your exercise actually is. Or what your rate of loss was...

To clarify, I meant I think I now burn less calories for the same exercises as previously. In other words, if I run for 30 minutes now, I'm probably burning less calories than running for 30 minutes a month ago.

I do think I need to up my intensity now. I run 2-3 days/week, one day with a set of sprints (20secs hard, 10secs recovery x8), do a fitness blender aerobic/strength workout 2-3 days/week.

One of my runs per week is a long run, and I'm trying to increase distance on that. Trying to push pace on other days.

I had been steadily losing 1-2 lbs/week.

mom2kateRH

ladyhusker39 wrote: »

I say take all the positive motivation you can get whether it's technically accurate or not.

Any long project like losing a lot of weight has it's physical and emotional ups and downs. It sounds like you've got a pretty solid attitude about it.

You could certainly cut back a little on your calories and see what effect it has. Personally, I'd up my exercise a bit to burn more because I'd rather keep eating more, Either way should produce some kind of change that might help you figure out what's going on.

I love food. I think I'll up my exercise!

sijomial

mom2kateRH wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

As you become fitter your capabilities increase - you should be able to burn more calories, not less.
Run further/faster/longer, lift more weight etc etc.

Less than two weeks is a very short timeframe to jump to any conclusions let alone what would be a very minor and gradual change.

PS - you haven't given any clues what your exercise actually is. Or what your rate of loss was...

To clarify, I meant I think I now burn less calories for the same exercises as previously. In other words, if I run for 30 minutes now, I'm probably burning less calories than running for 30 minutes a month ago.

I do think I need to up my intensity now. I run 2-3 days/week, one day with a set of sprints (20secs hard, 10secs recovery x8), do a fitness blender aerobic/strength workout 2-3 days/week.

One of my runs per week is a long run, and I'm trying to increase distance on that. Trying to push pace on other days.

I had been steadily losing 1-2 lbs/week.

Ref the bold - yes you are burning less calories but only if you are running the same distance in your 30 minutes as when you were heavier. If you are fitter you should be running faster. More distance in same time and you could well be burning more calories not less.
If you can't run further in your 30 minutes then either you really aren't getting fitter or you aren't pushing yourself (sorry!).

Losing 1 - 2lbs a week is a 3500 - 7000 calorie deficit. Any minimal changes in your exercise burns aren't going to account for a change like that.
You need to give it more time to see if this is a blip but if it becomes a long term trend then think you should be looking at your food not your exercise for the reasons why.

mom2kateRH

I am definitely not pushing myself enough--that is a bad habit of mine. I tend to make great strides initially, get comfortable, and stay comfortable. So I am running the same distance in the same time, but I'm fairly sure I could run farther.

stupid science and thermodynamics.

BrianSharpe

mom2kateRH wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

As you become fitter your capabilities increase - you should be able to burn more calories, not less.
Run further/faster/longer, lift more weight etc etc.

Less than two weeks is a very short timeframe to jump to any conclusions let alone what would be a very minor and gradual change.

PS - you haven't given any clues what your exercise actually is. Or what your rate of loss was...

To clarify, I meant I think I now burn less calories for the same exercises as previously. In other words, if I run for 30 minutes now, I'm probably burning less calories than running for 30 minutes a month ago.

The difference in energy expenditure is probably smaller than you think (unless you've lost a lot of weight) For example a 200lb person would expend approximately 126 cal for every mile of running (.63 x wight in lbs x distance in miles) at 175 lbs it would be about 110 cal / mile so, if someone was running 3 miles a day it would come to 48 fewer calories expended.

Are you running with a heart rate monitor? I don't particularly care for them for calorie estimation but I do like tracking metrics like average heart rate etc. One of things I've found is that as I've become fitter my pace for a 15km recovery run is about the same as my race pace was for my 1st 5K.